The Secrets We Keep
by Screaming Argonaut
Summary: Ed has been showing up for work covered in cuts and bruises. He convinces his brother and his coworkers that "boys will be boys," but in reality it is something much more sinister. Child abuse, implied sexual abuse. M for a reason, folks.
1. Chapter 1

_Warning: this story contains child abuse. If that offends you, please don't read._

_This story was inspired by Hyperthia's __'M."_

Colonel Roy Mustang was once again tapping his pen impatiently on his desk. Fullmetal was about an hour late for his appointment; a new record for him. Roy went over the impending lecture over and over again in his mind. Roy was going to rip this kid a new one. About fifteen minutes later, the man set down the pen and grabbed his coat. Night had fallen and most of his subordinates had gone home, with the exception of Havoc and Hawkeye.

"I'm calling it a night. God, I hate that little punk. The only reason I came in today was because I had to take his report! Shame on me for scheduling it so damn late in the day." He complained as he made his way towards the door. He paused before opening it, because he had forgotten his umbrella. Back by his desk, he grabbed the umbrella and glanced out the window to find that it was, in fact, still raining cats and dogs. Grumbling, he opened the door to his office to discover a small boy wearing a soaked red coat standing outside of it.

"Ah Fullmetal, I see you finally made it out here tonight. I was worried you'd drowned in a puddle." He mocked. However, the boy didn't react in any way, shape, or form. He merely pushed his way into the office with his hood still up. Mustang shrugged and followed him back in. He hoped that by the time the meeting was over, the rain would have let up. Mustang sat in his chair and observed the boy fiddling with his hands. Again, Roy shrugged and read through the sloppy report. There wasn't anything to criticize the boy with this time around; the mission had gone smoothly as could be. Ed had managed to clean up the river leading into a small town where people were getting sick from the contaminated water. Roy closed the manila folder and set his hands down on it, fingers linked.

"Well done, Fullmetal." He said, trying to get a response of any kind out of the boy. He still had his hood up and it obviously wasn't keeping the rain out of his face, because his bangs were glued to his forehead. So why did he have it on now? It wasn't cold in the office; the A/C went out again so it was 85 degrees in there. Roy knew that something was wrong.

"Fullmetal, it's boiling in here. Why don't you take that jacket off?" Ed's head snapped up a bit, seemingly taken off-guard by the man's words.

"No, 'm fine." Was the only reply. Roy looked up at Hawkeye, who was watching Ed's every move, and jerked his head over at him. She understood what her commanding officer was telling her and she made her way over to the couch he was sitting on. She reached he hand in his hood and felt his forehead. He flinched at the touch, and jerked his head away from her hand. She shook her head at Roy and sat down next to Ed.

"Edward, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright?" She placed a hand on his back and he responded very violently. He shot up to avoid the touch, but her hand absent-mindedly grabbed his coat and it fell off him. She and Havoc gasped, and Roy's eyes widened in surprise. Before Ed managed to get his coat back on, they saw what he was hiding. He had various bruises on his arm and the nastiest black eye they had seen in a long time. Ed got his coat back on and shoved the hood back over his head. Hawkeye had her hand over her mouth. Havoc made his way over to Ed and tried to take the hood off again. However, Ed used both his hands to hold it where it was.

"Jesus boss, what the hell happened to you?" The boy turned away from them and tried to walk out. Hawkeye was not about to let that happen. She grabbed him and sat him back down on the couch.

"No you don't, Edward. You're not leaving until you answer his question." Ed crossed his legs and cast his eyes to the floor. He was getting very uncomfortable with all the eyes he felt on him. His mind raced to find a good explanation. Luckily, Havoc came up with a good one.

"The other guy looks worse, right Chief?" Ed looked up and watched Havoc carefully.

"Yeah, I'll bet the boss got into a little tussle with one of the locals down there and he beat the ever-living piss out of him! No one could take Edo down, could they?"

"Havoc!" Hawkeye hissed. She was about to kick him out, but then Roy jumped in. Mustang didn't want to insult the boy again, but he had to. Only he would disguise it as a complement.

"You're right, Lieutenant. Being short _does _have its advantages. Shorter persons have a better center of gravity, and once they've got a hold of you, it's hard to get them off!" Riza brought Ed's face to hers and she looked him in the eye.

"Is that what actually happened, Edward?" Ed's eyes shifted between the three people in the room. The lie started coming together in his mind, so he went with it.

"Y-yeah. Al and I got jumped by rebels as we were leaving the town. Uh, yeah, so I kicked their asses. The only reason I got this black eye is because they had the element of surprise, but no, I totally beat the snot outta them!" Ed said proudly, almost believing it himself.

Havoc clapped him on the back, going on about how he won his first fight when he was Ed's age. And Roy simply smirked from his desk. Ed hid behind his phony smile as he walked out of the building. The smile faded as the recent memories haunted his mind. Memories of how he actually got those bruises. He had hoped that the rain would make him feel better, considering it made the bastard colonel useless, but it didn't. It only made him feel worse. Why did he have to lie? They were adults, they could handle it. No. Ed had to be an adult. _He_ could handle it. It was just one bad guy right? He was dragged away from his thoughts by the sound of an approaching car. He glanced over at it as it slowed down and the window rolled down. Smoke billowed out of it so Ed knew it was Jean before his face was even revealed.

"Hey Boss, you need a ride?" Ed accepted eagerly. He would take the smell of stale smoke over pouring rain any day.

Much to Ed's relief, Havoc didn't mention 'the fight' during the car ride. The kind man only asked how he and his little brother were doing. They made small talk during the five minute car ride back to Ed's apartment complex. Ed got out in the parking lot and Havoc asked one last question before Ed closed the door.

"Hey Ed, how did you get this apartment? I thought you had to be at least eighteen to get a lease." Ed tensed up at the question. His knees shook a little bit as he fumbled with an answer.

"Oh that, um…Al looks old enough, I guess…" He tried smiling again to hide his growing fear. Jean smiled back and waved in departure. Ed looked up at his dark apartment building. He looked to make sure that one light in particular was out on the first floor. It was, so he made his way towards the elevator as quietly as possible. He even stopped breathing as he passed apartment 103. Unfortunately, he wasn't quiet enough, because the door of that particular door opened and Ed felt his heart drop in his chest.

"Hey boy, thought you could slip by, eh?"


	2. Chapter 2

_April is national child abuse prevention month…it should be every god-damn month of the year._

Two months prior

Edward and Alphonse had spent quite some time trying to find a decent place to live while they were in Central. Being the creature of comfort that Ed was, he wanted to find an apartment as close to headquarters as possible. Al had to talk his brother out of a few complexes because one was loaded with burnouts, and the other greatly exceeded their budget. They found a reasonably priced one about five blocks away from headquarters that had decent neighbors, a library within a few blocks, and a good restaurant on the same block. They went to inquire within and wound up in front of the landlord, David Lindstrom. He seemed fair enough; he had a kind smile and didn't slam the door in their faces like the others. Ed was a bit uncomfortable under the man's gaze, but chose to ignore it.

"How old did you say you were?" He asked, not taking his eyes off Ed.

"I'm twelve, and my brother is…um, twenty-three." Ed lied, hoping that his naïve little brother would understand why he lied about his age. David looked Alphonse up and down trying to judge how old he actually was.

"You haven't said as much as 'hello' since you walked in, Alphonse. Does your little brother do all your business for you?" he laughed while Ed tried to ignore the 'little brother' remark. Al was about to speak, but Ed interrupted him.

"Oh, he's mute. He was caught in a fire before I was born, so he wears that suit to hide the scars…he hasn't spoken since it happened." Ed whispered to the man. David seemed to accept this answer and looked over Ed's paperwork.

"Now, does Alphonse have a job?"

"No, but I do." David looked confused for a long time. He pointed his finger at Ed.

"_You're _the breadwinner? Where do you work?"

"I'm a state alchemist." Ed placed his pocket watch on the desk and tapped it with his gloved finger.

David snatched it up and looked it over. His eyes switched back and forth from brother to brother. Eventually he smiled and handed the watch back to Ed.

"An alchemist eh? We could use someone like you around here. Tell ya what; if you can help us out by fixing some piping, walls, and other miscellaneous things that break, I can cut back your rent by, say, 20 percent. Does that seem fair?" Ed nodded his head eagerly and accepted the offer. Ed and Al signed the lease and were shown their apartment. Ed couldn't help but show off his skills by repairing a wall that had some cracks in it with alchemy. David was impressed by his skills and clapped him on the shoulder in approval. In doing so, he felt Ed's automail shoulder through his coat. He made note of it, and Ed was none the wiser. Ed and Al took a small tour around the apartment as David bounced a super ball on the wood floor. As they came back in the den, David's ball got loose and it accidentally hit Al in the side, emitting a hollow bang. The man paused to register the sound before apologizing and picking up the ball. Al made himself at home by reading a book as David led Ed around the complex. Afterword, he showed Ed the office again. He offered Ed a coke and sat him down in front of his desk. David folded his hands on the desk and smiled a strange smile.

"You two committed the taboo, didn't you? You lost your brother's body and your arm in human transmutation, didn't you?" he accused. Ed fidgeted in his chair and tried to play dumb.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" he mumbled, going out of his way not to look at the man's face.

"Don't worry, Kid. I'm good at keeping secrets. As long as you can keep your mouth shut about me giving out a lease to two young boys. Yup, Al isn't mute. I heard him talking to you as you came in today. He does not sound like a man in his twenties. Can I ask you something?"

Ed looked up at the man suspiciously. "What?"

"Can I see it? The fake arm. Does it work like a real arm?" Ed didn't see the harm in it, considering the man already knew his secret. He took off his coat and his black coat beneath it. David looked at the arm, but spent more time looking at Ed's tight tank-top. A moment went by and Ed didn't notice David's wandering gaze for a whole minute. Ed felt uncomfortable and put his coat back on. David gave Ed some spare keys, but kept one for himself.

Ed and Al spent a week at their new home without incident. That is, until Ed woke up with someone's hands in his pants. He screamed and leapt out of bed to discover a drunken David at the foot of his bed looking confused.

"Pfft. Ed? Whadd're you doin' here?"

"I _live _here, Dave! What're _you_ doin'?"

Dave started laughing uncontrollably as Al burst into the room.

"Shit, I'm sorry kid! I thought you were 'm lady friend!" He continued laughing until Ed and Al ushered him into the hall. David heard them dead-bolt the door behind him and his drunken smile turned into one of the devil's personal favorites.

_God, that kid felt so good. Not a hair on him! _He shuddered in lust as he made it back to his apartment.


End file.
